Everyday People Making Media…What’s Happening Here?

July 5, 2007 By David Burn Leave a Comment

eMarketer’s front page offers two interesting counterpoints this morning.
In one article, UGC Not Critical for Many Marketers, only 12% of senior marketing staff on the client side said UGC (also known as consumer-generated media, or CGM) was “very important.” In another report, titled User-Generated Content: Will Web 2.0 Pay Its Way?, eMarketer estimates that US user-generated content sites will earn $4.3 billion in ad revenues in 2011, up from $1 billion in 2007.
Adweek paid $695 for the latter report and adds, “users have shown no indication that creating their own Web content for others to consume is a passing fad. By 2011, the research estimates there will be 95 million Web users creating content online, up from 64 million last year.”
In summary, CGM is exploding and there’s money to be made, but only a slim percentage of clients find the development worth acting on. Why am I not surprised?

Filed Under: Consumer Generated Media

About David Burn

I wrote my first ad for a local political candidate when I was 17. She went on to win her race, and I felt the power of persuasive copy for the first time. Starting in Portland in 1995, I worked my way across the country as a copywriter and eventually became a content director making media products for big packaged goods brands. I returned to Oregon in 2008, and now I focus on building brands for companies that matter, including this one.